May 16, 2006
BOX SCORE
FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University dropped a 3-2 extra-inning college baseball decision at the College of William and Mary Tuesday night in Williamsburg. The homestanding Tribe (20-28) scored the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning on a one-out sacrifice fly, avenging an early-season 2-1 loss to the Lancers (23-26) in Farmville. Longwood will close-out its 2006 campaign with another night game at William and Mary on Wednesday, May 17, beginning at 7 p.m. in Williamsburg.
Longwood and William and Mary battled for the second time this season in a pitching duel as junior ace and captain Brian McCullough/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) went the first 9.0 innings, scattering nine hits and two earned runs with 10 strikeouts and only one walk. The Lancers fell behind in the first inning as the Tribe plated two runs on two hits, including a two-out RBI double from Joe Mante (2-4, RBI) -- the only extra-base hit allowed by McCullough whose walk was to the first batter he faced as well.
Longwood closed to within 2-1 in the second inning as redshirt sophomore captain Zach Zigrang/Virginia Beach (Kempsville) (2-4, RBI) singled to lead-off and later scored on a one-out RBI single by junior Ryan Rowe/Richmond (Varina) (1-1, RBI). The Lancers tied the contest at 2-2 in the sixth inning when freshman Paul Heidler/Warrenton (Notre Dame Academy) (2-4) led-off with a triple to right center field and came home on a one-out sacrifice fly by Zigrang.
The Lancers loaded the bases two more times in the game, including the seventh and ninth innings, but could not push any more runs across the plate -- stranding 11 runners during the game. Freshman Aaron Berg/Mechanicsville (Hanover) (1-2) pitched the final one-third of an inning in the 10th, allowing one hit and one earned run along with a walk and a pair of wild pitches.
Jeff Lunardi (1-3, RBI) had the decisive sacrifice fly in the 10th for William and Mary, scoring Paul Juliano (2-3) who had reached on a single. Joe Kantakevich (4-3) got the pitching win in relief with the final 3.0 scoreless innings, allowing four hits along with four strikeouts for the Tribe.
McCullough finished his outstanding third year with the program at 7-3, including a 3.11 ERA over 110.0 innings with 97 strikeouts (7.94) and only 21 walks (1.72). The innings pitched, and strikeout totals, each rank second-best all-time for a season, while the fewest walks rank sixth-best for a season.
